Opp leaders accuse govt of 'muzzling dissent', demand immediate release of former CMs, political detainees in J-K

Accusing the Modi government of "muzzling" democratic dissent by "coercive administrative action", opposition leaders, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday demanded immediate release of three former chief ministers and all other political detainees in Jammu and Kashmir.

Nothing exemplifies this more starkly than the continuing detention of three former chief ministers --Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti-- of J&K for over seven months on "flimsiest of grounds", they said in a joint statement.

There is nothing in the records of these three leaders to "lend credence to the government's false and self-serving claim that they pose a threat to public safety in J&K or that they have endangered national interests with their activities," it said.

Apart from Nationalist Congress Party's Pawar and Banerjee, the statement was issued by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja, RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha, and former ministers in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie.

National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mufti were detained following the Centre's August 5, 2019 decision to abrogate special status of the erstwhile state, besides its bifurcation into two union territories. They were booked in February this year under the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA).

NC president Farooq Abdullah, who was also under house arrest after the move by the Centre, was detained in September under PSA.

"We demand the immediate release of all political detainees in Kashmir, especially the three former chief ministers of J-K," they said.

India and its Constitution have always stood for unity in diversity with everybody's views respected, honoured and heard, it said, adding "however, in the government of Narendra Modi, democratic dissent is being muzzled by coercive administrative action, which has threatened the basic ideals of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity as enshrined in our Constitution."